Social: Timberwolves are, at their base social level, pack animals. They know a very simple truth about how nature works, in that if you want to survive, having a group at your back improves your chances immensely, and allows you to take down prey that a single beast could have no hope against. As such, the pack is everything, the core of their life and the center of their survival. Lone wolves, either survivors of decimated packs or simply the odd timberwolf who enjoys solitude, are often regarded as mentally damaged, and only allowed to stay near the edges (Not deep inside), the Everfree forest where the majority of Timberwolves live, though if the lone wolf possesses a unique skill, they are allowed in for special ceremonies. (Mind I am assuming the Everfree is actually much larger then we have seen in the show, though to be fair I have never seen it given a set size)

An average pack consists of 5-6 wolves, with an Alpha (male or female) at the top, their favorite mate(s), and down the list to the omega at the bottom, with the lowest taking the most dangerous tasks and getting the least rewards its efforts. Each pack usually has a hunting range of 10-20 miles, though overlap is bound to happen, and while fights do break out over prey rights, usually they are settled in a non-lethal manner (For the wolves anyway), but occasionally deaths do occur. Normally the packs are self-contained units, but every six months packs gather into Moots, places of unique and magical power where they trade information, share news and tactics, teach the new generation a few tricks if they manage to impress the elders enough, challenge for rank and status, and of course, breed. One thing to note however, is they have no art to trade, no trinkets for sale, no legends of old to pass down. Timberwolves do not care about these things, for it is not in their nature, which is one of the reasons that the other races tend to think of them as mindless animals. After all, a race with no art, no written language, no crafted items, and any interactions with other races have normally only one of two outcomes? How could anyone think otherwise?

Timberwolf language is a tough one to understand, as it combines verbal, scent and body language into a rather complex system. It is almost impossible for non-timberwolves to understand or learn, as you need a throat made of bark to get the right verbal cues, and the ability to manipulate your body for the non-verbal ones.

The leader of the timberwolf race is...hard to pin down. Even among the wolves themselves, their leaders are often self-appointed and self-sustaining, and when a major threat enters their forests, the packs band together into war-parties with a single leader appointed, and the other alphas given leave over their own individual packs. These parties break apart once the threat is removed, though occasionally fragmented packs are absorbed into the survivors.

At their core, Timberwolves are predators. They hunt and kill without remorse, but also without greed. They kill only what they need to survive, and view excessive killing as a pointless, thoughtless exercise that only the most unbalanced of creatures partake in. They play no games with their prey, and do their best to avoid making their prey suffer. However, make no mistake. Timberwolves also have no honor in battle. Their idea of a fair fight means one of you, and six of them. They will fight dirty, use any trick and trap they can to make sure that their prey falls with minimal effort.

To be fair, most timberwolves do not think they need traps to take prey, and usually rely on numbers and their natural prowess to take down prey. This can lead to them severely underestimating their prey at times, much to the wolves chagrin, and their packmates mocking laughter.

Biological: Timberwolves are, needless to say, made of wood. They can be crushed, smashed, and broken apart without any major issue, and can reform in usually a half hours time, though this does depend on the amount of foliage around them and on how many times they have been broken recently, as each reformation takes a significant amount of energy. They actually survive on sunlight, water and carbon dioxide, with the decomposing flesh of their live prey used as fertilizer (also explains their terrible breath), and a timberwolf with a steady supply of flesh will grow faster and be larger then one without. As wood, they can live to be extremely old, though because they care little for such things, the eldest wolves have never had their age recorded, so their actual lifespan limit is unknown. Timberwolves have no real internal organs, and thus do not breathe as living creatures do. They breathe like plants, ever surface able to take in CO2 and expel O2 in return, and the only place in their body that is ever actually used for anything is their stomach sack, where they store whatever meat they have for fertilizer.

Fire is the surest way to permanently kill a timberwolf, and all wolves have a healthy respect for the deadly flames. Smashing a timberwolves body pieces to bits is also a way to slay them, though admittedly this takes time and a heavy hammer, but it can be done. Water is also lethal to the wolves, as while they can float for several hours (Or days depending on body size), eventually they will become waterlogged and sink, eventually breaking down as they slowly suffocate from lack of CO2.

All timberwolves have the innate ability to control their bodies to a fine degree, and can add or subtract any part of themselves as they see fit. However the ability to uproot entire trees and grow to immense size is found only in either the eldest, the most powerfully magical, the most gifted with body manipulation, or for war-party leaders when the other timberwolves meld their magic with his.

Each timberwolf female is able to give birth to hundreds of children, as timberwolves are born from tiny pod clusters that grow all along the pregnant females back, and blow away like dandelion seeds when they reach maturity. However, the females are able to regulate the number of seeds that are fertilized, and normally only allow two to six pods to actually be matured to avoid overpopulation.

Magic: Oddly enough, Timberwolves magic is that of renewal. They are creatures of the earth, of life and the seasons, and view the ponies manufactured weather as unnatural and in defiance of the balance of the world. They can heal almost any wound given time, and can bring life to the most barren of lands, and it is because of this that the Everfree forest is as large as it is today, and even the ponies most concentrated efforts can be foiled if the wolves put enough of their time and energy into renewing the lands. They have no great waves of fire to char their foes, no barriers of eldritch might to protect themselves. Their magic is slow, the pulse of the land and the heartbeat of the earth, the primal force of nature given direction.

Not as flashy as the alicorns, nor as outwardly lethal as the dragons flames, but underestimate it at your own peril.

Reasons for entering the war: Most timberwolves view the current conflict with a mix of disdain, mockery, or just plain apathy towards the contestants. However, a growing number of the wolves have begun to speak out, and three camps have formed within their ranks, the Moots now loud with the howls of discord. One side favors the ponies, as they may be annoying and silly creatures, but they are easy prey (Most of the time), and stay out of the wolves lands. The second camps wishes to join the dragons, as they see the dragons as the natural victors of the conflict. Plus while dragons are killable, it usually costs several packs to slay a single adult dragon, and the dragons are normally content with hording gems and sleeping away the ages, and with them in charge the forests could flourish like never before. The final camp suggests to leave the war between the other races, and simply focus on keeping their lands alive and well. They feel that the war will end without much change being wrought, and the cycle of life will continue unimpeded.

Okay so far this is really well done and meshes well with some of the ideas we ourselves were discussing earlier in the day.

For right now though I want to say that it will likely take us a bit to come to a discussion on this, hell we're still discussing Changelings and how they'd fit into the RP narrative, and we've been at that since the end of season 2. With that said it will likely take us a bit of time to come to a decision so I'd honestly suggest holding on to the idea for the character, but consider making something else so your not waiting for something that may or may not happen.

I'll note most of the concerns have focused on integrating a timberwolf into the game and not having them be a lone wolf solo from all of the other action which is honestly an issue we've had multiple times before.

Well, the idea I had for my character was that he is a ambassador for his particular camp, sent to talk terms with the Princesses for their involvement in the war. Talk happens, and she decides to allow a trial basis for a small group of timberwolves to join her forces (carefully monitored of course), and after sending the message back to his camp, my character is teleported to where ever the group is at the time, or to their CO and given directions to meet up? Other ideas are brewing, but take your time, Im fine with waiting XD.

Okay so Superbowl mostly worked against us, cause I went to Epcot to escape the cries of football.

Finally got enough mods together though to discuss this recently and come to a consensus.

Sorry it took so long though, as a PC race we feel there's two major issues with Timberwolves. The first and primary issue is language and communication between timberwolves and other races, it'd be easy enough to say they could understand everyone else it doesn't help to make it extremely difficult for others to understand them. The second issue is a combination of their predatory nature and the fact that their canon depictions is pretty much chasing down ponies for their delicious pony meats.

For that reason we find it better to keep them as a NPC race lurking in the shadows of the Everfree Forest. The idea while interesting and well developed just doesn't fit the narrative we've got going over all and as a whole we feel the issues presented above would cause to many issues short of waving a plot hole in their direction to gloss over them.